Who Is Baltej Singh? Nephew of Indira Gandhi Assassin Named Mastermind in New Zealand’s Biggest Rs 180 Crore Meth Smuggling Case After Court Lifts Secrecy

A New Zealand-based businessman has come into the spotlight after courts lifted a long-standing order that had kept his identity hidden. Baltej Singh, who is also related to one of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassins, has been identified as the key figure behind one of the largest methamphetamine smuggling operations in the country.

His name was made public on Saturday by a New Zealand media outlet after the court removed the earlier order that kept his identity secret. The court had initially granted name suppression because of concerns that his family’s controversial background could put them at risk among Sikh and Hindu communities worldwide. 

Who Is Baltej Singh?

Baltej Singh, the nephew of Indira Gandhi’s assassin Satwant Singh, was once a well-known and successful businessman in Auckland. He was respected and had no criminal record earlier.

However, in 2021, things changed when he rented an industrial space and started importing large amounts of drugs like ephedrine and methamphetamine.

Reports say that in August 2021, he brought in 1,440 cans of coconut water from New Delhi. Some of these cans secretly contained drugs. A few months later, he imported another similar shipment through Dubai. 

In 2022, the operation expanded, and he brought in thousands of cans of beer from Canada and bottles of kombucha from the US, which were also used to hide drugs. 

In early 2023, Baltej Singh collected these shipments and stored them in his rented unit. Around the same time, he teamed up with another man Himatjit ‘Jimmy’ Singh Kahlon, to help distribute the drugs. 

How Baltej Singh Named Mastermind in New Zealand’s Drug Smuggling Case? 

The case came to light in March 202after3  a 21-year-old man, Aidan Sagala, died after drinking one of the beer cans that contained a high amount of meth. The drink had been given to him by Kahlon. 

After this, Kahlon tried to recover the distributed products but was caught and later sentenced to 21 years in prison for manslaughter. Soon after the incident, police arrested Baltej Singh at Auckland Airport while he was preparing to leave the country. They also found over $10,000 in cash with him. 

During searches of his storage units, police recovered huge quantities of drugs, over 300 kg of solid meth and large amounts of liquid meth.

Although the court said Baltej Singh was not the top leader of the operation, it rejected his claim that he was forced into the crime. He was eventually sentenced to 22 years in prison.  

Nephew of Indira Gandhi Baltej Singh Named  in New Zealand’s Drug Smuggling Case

In a statement given to the court, Baltej Singh’s father said the family had faced threats and harassment after the assassination, which made them widely known and controversial among Sikh and Hindu communities around the world.

At first, the court agreed with these concerns and allowed Singh’s identity to remain hidden, saying the safety of his family was more important than making his name public. 

However, the New Zealand government challenged this decision. In November, the court reversed its earlier ruling, stating that the public had a strong right to know the identity of someone involved in such a large drug operation. 

The judges also said that anyone seeking revenge linked to the 1984 assassination would likely already know who Baltej 

Singh is, and they believed that revealing his name would pose very little risk to his family. 

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